Conquest and Colonisation:
The Normans in Britain, 1066-1100

Brian Golding

A succinct and lucid overview of the first third-century of the Norman
Conquest, now available in a revised edition, Conquest and Colonisation
is an important resource for historians and students. While a scholarly
work, however, it is also an option for the general reader wanting to know
more about the Conquest than the well-known events of 1066. Though his
focus is on politics, Golding approaches that broadly, covering the
establishment of military control, the process of settlement and changes
in landholding, government, military organisation, and the church.

Golding begins with a ten page survey of the major sources: the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and other English writings, contemporary Norman
writers such as William of Jumieges and William of Poitier, the much
argued over Carmen de Hastingae Proelio and Bayeux Tapestry, and
later Norman historians such as Orderic Vitalis and William of Malmesbury.

He then considers two notable issues in the prelude to the conquest.
The first is the nature of the Norman presence in England before 1066: he
argues that this was informal and personal, that there was no organised
Norman "faction" at Edward's court. The second is the alleged offer
of the crown to William by Edward and the swearing of an oath to him
by Harold. What actually happened is hard to discern through the biased
Norman evidence: William's claim to the throne was as good as Harold's and
"the possibility of a Norman succession was almost certainly discussed
... but that it was given formal reality must remain unproven".

The battle of Hastings and the campaigns of 1066 need no introduction and
are dealt with fairly briskly. The five years immediately following saw
a range of threats: a rising in Kent, invasions from Ireland by Harold's
sons, and rebellion in the north, with some Danish support. Perhaps
the biggest threat was the revolt of 1075, which united discontented
Normans and English. Norman expansion into Wales started early but
was a piecemeal affair driven by individual barons, with setbacks: "by
1100 the Norman presence in Wales had been reduced to little more than
the command of a few, well-fortified strongholds and their immediate
hinterland, which provided a framework for future expansion".

Norman settlement and colonisation, and ongoing royal acquisition and
redistribution of land, had drastic effects on patterns of landholding:
it "concentrated the landed wealth of England as never before or since".
Not only was the native ruling class effectively disinherited, but there
was also (contrary to 'companions of the Conqueror' aristocratic founding
myths) high turnover among the early colonisers: Odo of Bayeux fell from
power in 1082; William fitzOsbern's son Roger de Breteuil had his lands
confiscated after the 1075 revolt; and so forth. And we get glimpses
of colonisation at lower levels: the settlement of humbler followers,
landholders enfeoffing their own vassals, and Norman merchants and
traders in the towns.

After a glance at pre-1066 government, Golding explores kingship,
its ideology and iconography ("unchanged by conquest"), the delegation
of royal authority, and the financial and judicial roles of the royal
household. "It was [a] desire for stability that underlies the government
of the early Norman kings. That stability could only be achieved through
a high degree of continuity in administrative practice." Other topics
covered include forest laws, sheriffs and local government, royal writs,
money and mints, and honorial courts and baronial households.

Golding touches briefly on pre-Conquest military organisation, in both
England and Normandy, and on Norman naval forces, castles, and strategic
imperatives. The most debated questions concern the maintenance of the
army: the extent of explicit military service quotas, the meaning of terms
such as milites, and the proportion of mounted troops. During William
I's reign "military obligations were defined more rigidly, and probably
increased", but changes were gradual and knight quotas must have been
introduced piecemeal. The resulting army was heterogeneous, its key
"the revenues for the maintenance of a cash-based force, centred on
the household".

Relations with the papacy and the issue of Canterbury's primacy were
intimately tied up with political concerns, as was the replacement
of bishops and abbots and the strategic relocation of diocesan seats.
At lower levels, the period saw the persistence of English priests and
the beginnings of a new ecclesiastical structure based on parishes.
And though monastic communities sometimes saw Norman abbots pitted
against English monks, there was continuity in the cults of native saints,
in historiography, and in liturgical practice, and Norman lords became
patrons of English houses. Overall, "by 1100 the English church was
truly an amalgamation of English and Norman culture".

The final chapter of Conquest and Colonisation looks at the links
between Britain and Normandy and the extent to which there was a unified
Anglo-Norman state, perhaps even a "Norman empire". Exploring the
dual status of William as duke of Normandy and king of England, Golding
finds "a unity that was predicated on personal rule not institutional
assimilation, that was de facto and not de iure". This chapter
also considers aspects of longer-term social change: acculturation and
integration, intermarriage, language change, and architecture.

The real meat of Conquest and Colonisation is, however, in the details
behind all of that, which reveal something of the complex patterns of
continuity and discontinuity across the Conquest.